Have You Got Thyroid Hair Loss?

If you suspect you have thyroid hair loss, you obviously need to get it checked and confirmed by a doctor. That's because there are many conditions that can become long-term problems and cause hair to fall out.

This page will give you a good idea about whether or not your hair
loss might be thyroid-related. And, if so, what type of thyroid condition it could be.

Your thyroid gland controls your rate of metabolism, which means it plays a very important role in your body. So it’s very unfortunate that thyroid disorders are extremelycommon. Women
are affected the most (especially those aged between 20 and 50). Women
are, in fact, about ten times more likely to develop thyroid problems than men.

Thyroid conditions usually develop very slowly, which unfortunately
means that they might go undiagnosed for years (which also gives any
thyroid hair loss you develop plenty of time to get quite severe). These conditions can affect your ability to work well, and so cause stress - which, of course, can only make things worse!

Here are the three most common thyroid disorders:

1. Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism develops when the thyroid gland produces an excess of hormones which then stimulate many of the body's functions.

So,
given that hair is one of the fastest growing parts of the body, it’s
easy to see how this type of thyroid hair loss might develop – if the
hair growth cycle is accelerated, it can get forced through anagen (the
growing phase) and into catagen (the shedding phase) sooner than it
otherwise would. And this can then get noticed as an increase in your
rate of hair loss.

Also, your hair is very much a gauge of your general health. So, if you fall ill, increased hair loss might be one of the first signs that something is wrong.

Most cases of hyperthyroidism (about 75%) are due to Graves' disease - an autoimmune disease which is probably passed on genetically. Other autoimmune disorders, and thyroiditis, can also cause this condition.

Symptoms include:

Weight loss

Hair loss

Frequent bowel movement

Swelling of the neck (goiter - see image above)

Heat intolerant

2. Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is when the thyroid gland produces a deficiency of hormones causing many body functions to slow down.

Hypothyroidism is often caused by thyroiditis, especially Hashimoto's thyroiditis (which is an autoimmune disease that seems to be genetic). It can also be congenital (from birth) or due to a dietary deficiency in iodine.

Symptoms include:

Weight gain

Hair loss and hair thinning

Constipation

Swelling of the neck (goiter)

Cold intolerant

This type of thyroid hair loss can also include thinning, or even complete baldness, in the outer third of both eyebrows (see picture below).

It's
interesting to note that these symptoms seem to be either exactly the
same, or completely opposite, to those of hyperthyroidism.

Also,
both these disorders appear to be linked to a genetic autoimmune disease
- Graves' disease in the case of hyperthyroidism, and Hashimoto's
thyroiditis in the case of hypothyroidism.